Searching
by Lyra Lupin
Summary: Remus Lupin recieves a letter from a mysterious young lady and the two engage in an akward conversation regarding lost loves. Will Remus learn that there is nothing as tender as a daughter's love for her father?
1. Prelude

_Author's Note: These characters and their world belong to J.K.R._

* * *

_**Searching**_

_**in three movements**_

"_Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives, there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." -- __Joseph Addison_

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_**Prelude**_

_**Adagietto **_

_"Dear Mr. Lupin,_

_My name is Anna Pruitt and I have recently discovered that you were a friend of my mother's during the early 1980's. My mother, Daphne Summerset, has recently passed away, and I have lingering questions regarding the years before my birth that I am hoping you might be able to resolve. Would it be possible for you to meet me in London over the Easter holidays at the Earl Grey Tea Room in Chelsea?_

_If this is acceptable, please reply to…"_

Remus neatly folded the letter and returned it to his coat pocket. The mysterious letter had arrived at Hogwarts during early February and into his possession via a snarling potions master a week later. Upon reading Anna Pruitt's request, he immediately responded through muggle post that he would be glad to meet with her during the holidays. He had received a final letter confirming that they would meet on a Thursday afternoon for tea and that she would be wearing a red coat.

Remus fingered his tea cup nervously. He was horrible with strangers, especially young women. He had decided to arrive a half hour early to give himself time to relax and reflect on Daphne, God rest her soul.

Daphne Summerset had been an assistant librarian at the City of London Public Library. And Remus? A poor, out-of-work wizard with a lot of time on his hands. Naturally, he spent many hours roaming the stacks of manuscripts and taking tea in the cafeteria next door, where they eventually met.

She was a beautiful young muggle woman taking pity on what she assumed was a restless, university student. They spent weeks sharing one another's company and, after a very brief affair, Remus ended everything by cutting up his library card and taking a teaching position in Spain.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Lupin?" questioned a soft female voice.

Remus shook away the shadows of those memories to find himself staring at a beautiful young woman in a red coat.

"Yes," he said, banging his knee against the table as he stood, then politely offering his hand. "Anna Pruitt?"

"Yes," she smiled, her grey eyes brightening to a soft blue. She was a tall, slender girl with a thin face and long, light brown hair. Something about her seemed so delicate yet, at the same time, she seemed like a woman who possessed a strong inner core. Lupin couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something uncanny about her.

Finally, he gave her a half smile and pulled out a chair for her. "Please, call me Remus. I was sorry to hear about your mother."

When she sat down, a curtain of long, light brown hair covered her face, her eyes darting away from his intense gaze. "I'm sorry, but I misinformed you. My mother is vacationing in France with her third…no, fourth husband."

Remus sat, his voice tense. "I'm not sure I understand what is going on here."

A blush crept into the girl's pale cheeks and trouble into her grey eyes, now locked directly with his when she said carefully, "You see Mr. Lupin; I am trying to locate my father."

"And you think I knew him?"

The girl took a deep breath. "No. I think you may be him."

It was as if the world stopped spinning and time stood still as he looked upon the young Anna Pruitt with new eyes, and very familiar grey eyes returned his unwavering gaze. In a quiet voice, he finally responded, "You think that I may be your…your father?"

Sadness lined her lips, and her earlier smile faded. "I am hoping that you might be." Then, looking away, "Perhaps this would be a good time to order tea."

"Yes, I believe so." If you're English, tea always makes things better.

After they had placed an order for tea and biscuits, Anna pulled out a large purse. "I want to show you something." Opening the bag, Remus couldn't but notice that it was cluttered with paper, a French dictionary, pink lip gloss, and a large bar of chocolate with a perfect bite mark on the upper corner.

Anna caught him looking at the candy bar and laughed slightly. "I got a bit nervous on the way over here and, well, chocolate always makes me feel better." Then looking down again into her bag, "Silly, I know."

Remus' stomach knotted. Besides the uncanny resemblance to himself - the grey eyes, the light brown hair, the lanky limbs - she also loved chocolate? Reaching in his breast pocket, he removed a handkerchief to wipe his brow, as if the gesture would rectify the troubled connection his mind had made.

"Ahh, here it is!" Anna handed him a dog-eared photograph.

It was a photo of him and Daphne snapped outside the London Zoo. The back of the picture read, "Remus Lupin of Yorkshire, 1981."

"That's how I was able to track you down. I went to Yorkshire, you see, and no one could place you until I went into this funny little bookstore." In the middle of pouring a cup of tea for him, she paused. "A very old and very odd man suggested that I try a school in Scotland called Hogwarts."

He gulped as he wondered what else the man, obviously a wizard, had told this young muggle woman. "I was teaching there for a time."

"On what subject?"

"Uhm…history," he answered quickly, lifting his cup to his lips and sipping the hot brew.

Anna took a long sip, as well, then returned the cup to her saucer with a slight rattle and forced out, "I do hate to pry, Mr. Lupin, but is it possible that you could be my father?"


	2. Intermezzo

_Author's Note: These characters and their world belong to J.K.R._

* * *

**Searching**

**in three movements**

"_Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives, there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." --_ _Joseph Addison_

**

* * *

**

**Intermezzo, **_**con moto**_

Remus flushed, then stuttered, "I…I was… intimate with your mother, yes."

Anna bit her lip, then placing her hand neatly on the table, continued. "May I ask you in which month you were intimate?"

He hadn't been with many women in his life, as Lycanthropy proved to be an obstacle physically as well as mentally in his few female relationships. In fact, that's why he left Daphne so suddenly after their first and only encounter. The full moon was less than a week away, and how was he supposed to explain Lycanthropy to a muggle woman? Sometimes it was easier just to walk away from it all, even the love, rather than face a woman's disgust.

But although his affair with Daphne had lasted only one night, it had been filled with several rounds of the most passionate and vivacious lovemaking that he had ever experienced.

Suddenly, Lupin felt excessively heated. Nervously, he creased the edges of the napkin, refolding it neatly in his lap. "We were seeing one another in July of '81."

Anna's face drained of color, her knuckles turning white as she clutched her cup and saucer, her voice a mere exhale. "I was born in late March of '82."

Lupin flinched involuntarily and then, with complete clarity and control, broached the more intimate details of his youthful affair. "Ms. Pruitt - "

"Anna," she corrected.

"Anna." Remus said her name softly. "I may be indeed be your father; however," he paused and wrinkled his brow. "This is very difficult for me to talk about with a young woman…"

"I understand," she replied and tried to smile.

"Your mother and I only spent one night together. And although, we were…" His eyes focused on the tea pot, "intimate several times in the course of that evening, your mother did take a contraception potion. So it would be highly unlikely…"

"A what?"

He looked at Anna, her cheeks red, and realized his mistake. "A medicine to prevent conception. She took it the next morning."

"A liquid contraceptive. Did you see her take it?" she asked honestly.

"No, but the bottle was empty when I returned." He had left her in the bathroom with it. Why wouldn't she have taken it?

"Was my mother involved with any other men that you can remember during this time?"

Lupin patiently set down his cup. "Anna, I don't mind answering your questions, but if Daphne is alive and well and vacationing in Spain, why won't she tell you who your real father is or at least the men that she had affairs with at the time?"

Anna's eyes widened, and there was a long pause of silence. Eventually, with grave sincerity, she began. "My mother is still very afraid of the man that is my father. She will barely speak of him to me."

"Then this cannot be me. I promise you. She was never afraid of me," Remus answered sternly. He and Daphne had always treated one another kindly, even when he informed her about Spain.

"I have only a little information regarding this. Here's what I do know; my father's best friend warned her about his involvement with a very powerful and very deadly crime syndicate in the city just after he left the continent. A week later, the best friend was sent to prison for killing seven people. A crime, Mum believes, my father had some hand in committing as well as framing his friend."

Remus blanched as Anna laid another photo on the table. It was a picture of Sirius, Daphne, and himself.

"I found this photograph, as well." Then looking him directly in the eye as she pointed to the photograph, "This man is Sirius Black. Five years ago, he escaped from the prison where he was serving time for all seven murders. He attended Hogwarts with you in the late seventies, and I believe that he was your best friend. He's the man who gave my mother the warning."

"Sirius Black was my best friend," Lupin responded immediately, "but I didn't frame him for the murders, nor did I commit them. Someone else did. A man we both trusted with a very dangerous secret betrayed us and our friends."

"I don't care!" Anna blurted out. "I don't care what you did in the past. Bad or good, all I want to know is if you're the man that I've been looking for these eighteen years. Remus Lupin, I want to know if you're my father."

Her grey eyes stormed with hurt and frustration. And although he barely knew the girl, he felt a stabbing sympathy deep within his chest. Perhaps, he was her father. The realization was finally breaking through his pleasant façade and battering his head and heart. Reaching across the table, voice firm, "If there is some test that can determine this, I will take it today, Anna."

(insert line here)

An hour later, they sat together in a muggle hospital room waiting for the nurse to return with the paternal test results. Anna wrapped her arms around herself to stop the nervous shaking, tried to hide tear-swollen eyes beneath her curtain of hair.

Closing his own eyes and saying a silent prayer, Remus crossed the small room and knelt at her side. He pushed aside her hair, tucking it behind her ear. "Anna, I'm so sorry."

"This isn't your fault; its Mum's." She wiped her eyes with the handkerchief he provided.

Then taking her hand, he grasped it firmly. "I have no children and no wife. My parents are dead. If you are my daughter, you'll be my only living family."

"You never married? This is Mum's fourth," she huffed bitterly.

"No. Never married." Remus gave her a lop-sided grin. "Never met a woman who wanted to take care of an old, crotchety professor."

Anna laughed and, looking upon him tenderly, replied, "I would take care of you, Remus."

His long fingers cupped her chin. "I know you would. I'd like that."

Suddenly, the door opened and the nurse appeared. "Mr. Lupin? Ms. Pruitt? I have your results."


	3. Finale

_Author's Note: These characters and their world belong to J.K.R._

* * *

"_Certain is it that there is no kind of affection so purely angelic as of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives, there is desire; to our sons, ambition; but to our daughters there is something which there are no words to express." _-- _Joseph Addison__

* * *

_

**Searching**

_**in three movements**_

**Finale_ presto_**

Remus stood and faced the muggle medi-witch.

"Oh my God! You're levitating!" the woman yelled as she stared horror-struck at Anna.

Remus turned on his heel and, sure enough, Anna Pruitt was hovering an inch off the ground.

"Oh God!" she cried and grabbed the counter in an attempt to pull herself down, but at the same time, she fainted. Luckily, Remus caught her in his arms before she smacked into the marble floor.

"I'll get the doctor!" the nurse shrieked and ran out of the room.

Remus cradled her, quietly calling her name. "Anna….Anna…"

She woke with a start, grey eyes wide and fists clutching the lapels of jacket. "Was I! Was it happening again?" Then, pulling away from him, she burst into sobs. "I'm so sorry!"

"For what?" he whispered as he helped her sit up.

Shyly, she turned towards him, eyes lowered. "If I am your daughter, I'm not normal. You see…I can do things." Then she added with a yelp, "I promise I'm not crazy!"

He threw his arms around her and brought her small body close to his chest and laughed. "I can do strange things, too, Anna. It's alright. In fact, it's normal."

"No, it's not." she cried, pushing her cheek against his shoulder.

"Where I come, from everyone can levitate or break glass without touching it. Some can even talk to animals and have them answer in complete sentences."

Anna pulled back and looked at him, eyes puffy and disbelieving. Remus tilted his head, finally understanding her shyness. "That's been happening to you a lot, hasn't it? The levitating?"

"My entire life," she answered, voice skeptical.

"Dear Anna." He stroked her hair, realizing now this girl must be his own flesh. "Knowing this, I'll be surprised if you _aren't_ my daughter," he replied, wiping back her hair and brushing away her tears with his palm as his own eyes brimmed with wetness. "Let's look at those results, shall we?"

With his arm still around her, they stood. She leaned against his shoulder, supported by fatherly strength as he read the scientific muggle report. "99.9999 positive," he said, then added softly, "My God. I have a daughter."

Smiling, he said it louder. "I have a daughter!" Without hesitation, he framed his elegant, slender hands around the young woman's tearful face. Only when he spoke did he realize that he was crying. "Let me look at you."

She covered his hands with her own, squeezing them tightly.

"I can't believe I made something so lovely. And I never knew...I never knew…"

Anna laughed and threw herself into his arms. "You know now. I know now." They hugged tightly and she whispered, "I'm normal. I am normal and you are my father."

He kissed the crown of her head. "I am your father, Anna. And you are completely normal, at least in the wizarding world."

"The wizarding world?"

He chuckled. There was so much he had to show her, to teach her. "I think it might be a good idea to disappear before the doctor comes back and wants to know why you were levitating three inches off the floor."

The young woman smiled widely, tears drying on her cheeks. "I think you may be right," and the hesitantly added, "Dad."

"_Dad_," Remus repeated with wonder and smiled. "I think I'm going to like hearing that." Then reaching into his coat pocket, he produced a long, smooth wooden stick. "Do you know what this is? No? This is a wand."

She looked upon her father wordlessly, and Remus scratched his head. "Yes, a magic wand. That does sound a bit mad, doesn't it?"

Anna laughed and nodded.

"Alright. Hold onto me tight. This doesn't feel very pleasant the first time, but I'm taking you home." Suddenly unsure, he added, "Well, to my home. Is that okay?"

Hugging him tightly, she nuzzled beneath his chin. "Yes, dad. Take me home."

_**fine**_

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Author's Note: Thanks for the thoughtful reviews: Chelles, ThouandI, Mercurio-Rane. They are always appreciated. :) 


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